Long-time worst member of Yankees 40-man roster is destroying baseballs for Astros

The New York Yankees seem to be great at identifying pedigree and potentially buried traits, but not so fantastic at actually coaxing the performance they're envisioning out of a given player while they're in town.

There's been a rash of post-Yankees breakouts across America to begin the season, from Oswald Peraza on the Angels to Jesús Rodríguez (and Parks Harber) with the Giants to Anthony Volpe in St. Louis (sorry, that's scheduled for next season, my bad). Perhaps the most inexplicable of all has been Braden Shewmake, who held down a 40-man roster spot with the Yankees for the entirety of the 2024 season, was never used, and floated on a whim to the Houston Astros this spring.

The former first-rounder is now, on a dime, insane.

Shewmake, a former Atlanta Braves top pick (it's their fault, blame them!), was picked up ahead of the 2025 campaign as potential infield depth and earned a 40-man roster spot, prepared to ride the Scranton Shuttle all year. Somehow, he didn't ride it once, hitting .244 with a .680 OPS in 88 games. The Yankees didn't think about promoting him — or, if they did, they certainly never telegraphed it. His name didn't come up in the public sphere once. They didn't need the 40-man spot. They didn't need Shewmake. He seemed like an easy DFA candidate if push ever came to shove, but ... it never did. He simply chilled. He even went back to Scranton to start this season, hitting .250 in 10 games before the Astros came a-callin' and the two sides worked out a low-profile trade (after injuries to Jeremy Peña and Nick Allen). Since then, the Astros' injuries have gotten even worse and Shewmake has continued to be penciled into the Houston lineup as they've languished well below .500.

Do you even remember Shewmake in spring training? Do you recall him getting run at any point with the big club? It's very tough to recall.

Annnnnnyway, he's hitting .364 with a 1.000 OPS through 33 at-bats, homering thrice. One of those dingers came off the Yanks on April 24, his first big-league game in years. Naturally.

Who did the Astros send the Yankees in exchange for Braden Shewmake?

All we can do is cross our fingers and hope reliever Wilmy Sanchez is worth the squeeze. In 4 1/3 innings with High-A Hudson Valley, he currently holds a 2.08 ERA in the system. So the Yankees have that going for them.

Against all odds, Shewmake would've actually been helpful in the wake of Jose Caballero's injury. The Yankees are now left hoping Max Schuemann can do an impressive enough dance to distract from Anthony Volpe's existence. After sitting on Shewmake for a year and never spending one ounce of thought on him, it turns out they may have created a diamond. Houston's diamond. Duh.

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